Cespedes swings bat, Anderson update, Reddick changes look

Yoenis Cespedes took some swings with a fungo bat and then a regular bat today, mostly one-handed – but he took five swings with both hands, which means that muscle strain in his left hand has healed.

“I’m ready,” Cespedes told me in English. I said, “Really?” and he responded yes, very firmly.

Josh Reddick post hair-cut today. Susan Slusser/The Chronicle

He’s not eligible to come off the DL until a week from tomorrow vs. Baltimore, but tomorrow he’ll hit off a tee and maybe soft toss, and he is likely to take batting practice in Boston if he continues to progress well.

Brett Anderson’s sprained right ankle has improved, but not to the point where anyone can say for sure if he’ll make his next start. He said it feels better, and while he was wearing an air cast most of the day, he was not when he came out to sit in the dugout during batting practice.

Manager Bob Melvin said that if Anderson cannot make his next start, which would come Wednesday at Boston, the A’s probably would have have to make a move to bring up another starter, and the most deserving candidate certainly would be Dan Straily. The team will have a fairly good idea tomorrow if that will be necessary. Considering Straily is scheduled to start for Triple-A Sacramento tomorrow, I think we’ll all have a fairly good idea what’s going on, should he be scratched from that start.

The big news today in A’s land is that Josh Reddick cut his scraggly hair and trimmed his god-awful hobo beard. He’s 2 for his last 22, and he’s been known to cut his hair when struggling. Melvin said he’d seen the hair cut and that it looks like “a semblance” of Reddick. “Hey, whatever he feels comfortable with is fine with me,” Melvin said.

One of his teammates told me when he first saw Reddick today, he thought it was (the very clean-cut) Jed Lowrie – until Reddick turned around and he saw the beard.

Yes, the beard has been trimmed. We assume this means that the competition with wrestler Daniel Bryan has been conceded.

“There are more important things than silly side bets,” catcher John Jason said in support of the beard-trimming.

It’s Jarrod Parker on the mound for Oakland and Jeremy Hellickson for Tampa Bay.

Oh, and forgot to mention earlier: Evan Scribner, who worked three innings and threw 65 pitches in relief of Anderson last night, was sent out for a fresh arm, Jesse Chavez. I think it’s safe to say we’ll see Scribner back soon, maybe even in 10 days from now when he is eligible to return. The A’s have been happy with his work out of the bullpen.

Anderson said he felt badly that Scribner was sent down because he, Anderson, had made it only through one inning. That’s a nice sentiment, but that’s exactly why Scribner is here is for those situations, and it was going to happen sooner or later with a demotion to follow. Long relievers know the deal.